You gotta love that halfway-through-the-year-not-motivated life, right? It gets us all at one point or another. For some of us it’s a blip in time, others feel stagnant for months, and maybe even years.

So, what gets us back up? We always look for the newest invention or fad to jump on board with, since the shiny things get us excited, right? Now, what happens when those things begin to fade away and the next best thing isn’t so great? I watched the movie “The Five-Year Engagement” the other night in which they were talking about an experiment with stale donuts and whether or not people would patiently wait for new donuts to arrive or simply eat the day-old ones… without getting totally into it and how it related to the relationship in the film, at one point, a character said to another, “Well, those new donuts are just going to get stale, too, so why not just enjoy the donut in front of you instead of waiting to see if just in case new donuts show up?”

I don’t mean to go off on a tangent on donuts, but now I’m in the mood for a nice Bismarck… alright, back on track.

Look, I’m not saying settling is the best choice. If something is legitimately bad, change it. But sometimes, that stale feeling isn’t bad. It’s just stale. So what can you do about it?

A few weeks ago, a fellow yoga teacher posted a picture of herself in child’s pose with the following quote that has continued to stay at the forefront of my brain:

“I practice awareness. I practice strength. I practice surrender. I practice discipline. I practice humility. I practice patience. I practice unity. I practice acceptance. I practice challenge. I practice ease. I practice. I practice. I practice.”

I loved it. We talk about our yoga practice somewhat flippantly, cause we rarely have a yoga performance we’re practicing for, ha, right? But here’s what it reminded me of: when we practice through our bodies, we are practicing awareness, strength, surrender, discipline, humility, patience, unity, acceptance, challenge, and ease, in order to take those things off the mat and out into the world. Whether or not that’s what drove us to yoga, these qualities tend to weave their way into our lives because that is the core of a yoga practice.

And then I thought a little more…

After I feel frustrated with the way I responded to a situation, if I couldn’t hold my handstand that day very well, or even being frustrated with being frustrated, I might lie awake that night, upset with how the day went. But what if I changed my pattern? What if instead, I said to myself at night, “Today I practiced. And that was enough. If I wasn’t super happy with practice today, I know I will practice again tomorrow.”

We always get so caught up in the small things, like they are life-changing or ending or that we can’t come back from them. I shouldn’t have said that—but I did, and I can’t change it, but I can change my practice tomorrow. I wish I were kinder today— well, I wasn’t, so I can work on that in my practice tomorrow. Why am I feeling so stale?–I might not know today, but I know I will practice seeking joy and finding value in the mundane in my practice tomorrow.

Here is my challenge for myself to finish out this year, maybe longer, we’ll see when they next lesson makes its way to me. I would love for you to think about what this mantra means to you as well:

I am willing to practice. 

Practice anything. Practice kindness. Practice yoga. Practice making a new dish. Practice acceptance of yourself and your life circumstances. Practice truth. Practice living fully. But just practice. Just be willing to be open, to learn, to know that every day is new and brings us something, however wee it may seem. I am willing to practice.

At the end of April, I began a journey of a year of handstands to develop my practice. I’m not great, ha. But I am way better than I was at the start. Let yourself move at the pace you move and stop comparing your pages to another’s. Be fully here and fully yourself, as you are already enough just as you are. Practice being willing. Be willing to practice.

I would love to connect with you, reader, if you feel like chatting. If not, sending you hugs and laughs anyhow.

Namaste, dear one.

Jenna